Birthday Friday

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.—Voltaire

I’m having a wonderful birthday week—pedicure and manicure on Tuesday, lunch at Owen Brennan’s with a dear friend in Memphis on Wednesday, out to dinner at Iris with my sweet husband on Thursday, and today, color and haircut, then off to Little Rock for a weekend with another dear friend.

My Denver “kids” and grandkids sent precious greetings (see pictures) via email and snail mail.

The sun is shining, so I’m not in danger of SAD today. I am 62 years old. Not a landmark birthday, like 60.  It doesn’t really feel any different than 61. I’m two years late for my ten-year colonoscopy (just rescheduled it for June—wonderful excuse: my Godson from Seattle is visiting next week!) and this month I also have my annual physical, mammogram, dental and optical appointments. Kind of like a 50,000-mile check up. Or maybe 75,000. Who knows when my warranty runs out, right?

Having already missed a big life goal (to publish a book before I turned 60) I’m trying not to focus on age anymore. Laura Ingalls Wilder published the first of her Little House books when she was 65.

Instead, I’m choosing to reflect on happy memories of birthdays past. I had fun yesterday looking at these photos from birthdays back in 1957, 1960 and 1968, when I was turning 6, 9 and 17.

If you’re hoping for some sage wisdom from my post today, I’m sorry to disappoint. I’m not feeling especially wise today. It seems the older I get, the more I realize how little I know. But I’m okay with that. I know enough to enjoy the people and things I’m passionate about—my family, friends, writing, music, and art. And that’s enough. So, maybe I do have some wisdom to share, something I’m learning.

Brené Brown says, in Daring Greatly:

Scarcity is the “never enough” problem…. We are often comparing our lives, our marriages, our families, and our communities to unattainable, media-driven visions of perfection, or we’re holding up our reality against our own fictional account of how great someone else has it…. Wholeheartedness… is facing uncertainty, exposure and emotional risks, and knowing that I am enough.

Today, on my 62^nd birthday, I am beginning to believe that I am enough.